Scattered Dim Lights
by Calling.the.Storm
Summary: At the begining of his Second year of Middle School, Tsuna thought his life couldn't get any worse until his cousin from Tokyo suddenly starts living with him. Not only that at school he developes a new rival of a boy who seems to hold a grudge against him in the past, Which he has no memory of! Also, who's the girl that keeps appearing in his dreams? TsunaXOC
1. Chapter 1

_**Hey guys! Here's a new story. It's a TsunaXOC.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

_**Review and comment!**_

_**Thanks!**_

_**-CTS TT-TT**_

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><p><em><strong><span>Chapter 1: A Cousin From Tokyo?!<span>**_

As the warm spring air winds blew around Nanimori, they brushed past a young girl lightly pushing back her long black bangs from her amber eyes.

She stood at the overpass counting the number of blue cars that pass through. After a few moments, she had gotten bored and looked up to the cloudless sky. She let out a small sigh, leaning against the rail.

"Liar…" she muttered.

* * *

><p>Walking down the streets with his two friends, Tsuna sighed. After another harsh day of failing a test, getting yelled by the teacher for sleeping in class and embarrassing himself in front of Kyoko. It was two month after they fought and defeated Mukuro and ever since his recovery, Reborn was harshly training him with surprise attacks at random times during the whole day. Tsuna prayed deeply that his life would soon go back to normal, but normality seemed like a distant dream.<p>

"Kaa-san, tadaima!" he called entering the house.

"Ojamashimasu!"

He and his friends entered his home to find their path was blocked by an abnormally large crate.

"Tsu-kun, welcome home." Nana greeted her son with her usual smile.

"Kaa-san, what is this?" Tsuna immediately asked pointing to the wooden crate. He felt an odd suspicion towards the crate, "Is it Reborn?"

"Oh, this? It's a little surprise from Tokyo." Nana told him, "Can you bring it to the living room? You can open it in there."

"Eh~ This large box?"

"Don't worry, Juudaime! As your right hand man, I'll help you!" Gokudera immediately offered.

"Haha! I'll help too, Tsuna. I'm kind of curious of what's inside!" Yamamoto told his friend.

"Thanks, Gokudera-kun, Yamamoto."

So, the three (Mostly Gokudera and Yamamoto) managed to move the large box to the living room. As they carried the crate to the room, The kids in the room turned their attention to the box.

"What's that, Tsuna-nii?" Fuuta asked.

"Saa…"

"What what?! Is it Lambo-san's?!" Lambo asked jumping on the box.

"No, Lambo." I-pin exclaimed.

"Where's it from?" The infant hitman asked.

"Tokyo, from Yagami Masaki and Manami…" Tsuna told him. The arcobareno smirked, his eyes hidden by his fedora, "It's not something weird is it, Reborn?!" his student asked.

"Saa."

Tsuna felt a chill run down his back, "I'm getting even more scared."

"Maa, why not open it, Tsuna?" Yamamoto suggested. "You won't know what's in it till you do."

"Baseball idiot! Don't push Juudaime! He'll open it when he's ready!"

Tsuna turned to the crate, "S-Sure… but…" he looked to find it tightly shut by nails, "How do I open this?"

After getting the nails off, Tsuna finally got the lid to come off the box. Pushing off the heavy top, Tsuna looked inside the box and his eyes widened like saucers.

"Wha-?!" he exclaimed falling back on to the ground.

"What is the matter, Juudaime!?"

"What's in there, Tsuna?"

"Lambo-san wants to see too!"

Tsuna couldn't say anything due to shock and just pointed to the box. The others looked in and many expressions where thrown out. Shock, confusion and disappointment (Lambo) were painted on their faces as they stared at the girl sleeping inside the box.

"A girl?!" Everyone exclaimed. Tsuna got back up and looked in to glance at the girl.

The girl had long blonde hair which was partly tied back by a blue hair ribbon, she wore a sleeveless white with a blue necktie and a blue pleated skirt and long brown combat boots.

"W-W-who is this girl?!"

"Uh-" The girl muttered and rolled on to her right side. Then here eyelids opened, revealing a sapphire color irises.

"She's awake, Tsuna."

Slowly sitting up, she rubbed her eyes and yawned.

"Am I there now?" she asked in her half asleep state.

Reborn jumped to the edge of the box and looked down at the girl with a smirk.

"Hey, Maname. Long time no see…"

Instantly, at the sound of the voice the voice, the sleep in the girl's eyes vanished and her eyes went wide. She immediately turned her attention to the infant.

"Reborn…" The girl glanced around the room and stared at Tsuna. Her eyes narrowed, "Seriously?" She muttered. Suddenly standing up, she stretched her arms, "Nana-san?! Are you here?!" She called out.

"Hai~!" Nana walked in to the room with a smile, "Welcome, Maname-chan." She greeted.

Tsuna's mouth dropped even more, "O-Okaa-san! You know her?!"

"Osewa ni narimasu," The girl said with a smile ignoring Tsuna. She climbed out of the box with a small bag in her hands, "This is a gift from Okaa-san."

Nana took the bag and looked inside, "Ara, maccha and wagashi. Thank you, I love imo youkan and kuri manjuu!"

"Lambo-san wants some!"

"Then let's have snack time now."

"Yay!" the kids cheered and followed after Nana to the kitchen table leaving Tsuna even more confused.

"EH? What's going on?!"

"Ahaha, this is interesting. Right, Tsuna?"

The girl and Reborn turned to each other before nodding in agreement.

"Yoshaa-!" The girl wrapped her arm around Tsuna's neck and pulled him down, "Nana-san, Tsunayoshi-kun and Reborn-kun just offered to walk around town, so we'll be going now!" She informed.

"EH?! Wha-" "Oi! Woman-"

"Okay, be safe."

"Hai! We'll be back by dinner." The girl turned, dragging Tsuna out with her leaving the two other boys confused.

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><p>As they walked through the steets, Tsuna was dragged still in a confused state. After a few minutes of sorting his thoughts, he pulled his arms out of her grasp.<p>

"H-hey, um-"

The girl turned to him tilting her head, "What?" she asked.

"W-" Tsuna took a breath, "Who are you?" he finally asked, "And how do you know Reborn?"

The girl stared at him for a long second, before releasing a heavy sigh.

"Geez," She muttered ruffling her bangs. She put her hands on her hips and leaned forward, "You really don't remember me?" She asked.

"EH? N-no…"

Reborn jumped on to her shoulders.

"He's no good, Maname. You need to introduce yourself."

The girl sighed disappointingly, "I see, I thought I left a good impression last time."

"Eh?"

The girl cleared her throat and put her hand on her chest, "I'm Miyanaga Maname, 13 years old, birthday July 1st. I'm your mother's cousin's daughter. I'll be living with you for some time for a couple of reasons." She explained. "One of them being your combat tutor, Vongola Decimo."

"I see… wait. What?!"

"Maname is skilled in close combat battles and martial arts. She's strong."

"Why?!"

Watching as Tsuna fade away in to dust, Maname turned to Reborn.

"Reborn, is he really the next heir to the Vongola?"

"I'm not interested in becoming that!"

"Yeah, sadly…" Reborn responded ignoring Tsuna.

"Oi, oi, he's even worse than Bucking Horse." She told him.

"Don't worry, I'll whip him in to shape."

"Okay-"

"Don't ignore me!" Tsuna yelled cutting in between the two. "I'm not interested in becoming a mafia boss and I just want to live a normal life!"

Maname narrowed her eyes at him and shook her head.

"What's so fun about normal…" she said in a hush voice.

"Eh?"

"Nothing," Maname turned and started walking, "I'm going to buy something at the conbini." She told him before wandering in to the crowd.

"Ah- Hey!" Tsuna chased after her but lost sight of her in flash. "Where did she go?"

"Quit squabbling and find her, Dame-Tsuna!" Reborn retorted kicking him in the back of his head.

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><p>Swiftly walking through the crowd, Maname let out an annoyed huff.<p>

"Geez, I was going to punch him…" she muttered gripping her fist, "How is Reborn going to turn him in to a boss? Especially when they're coming soon-" Maname stopped, catching a figure standing on the overpass looking down. Her eyes widened.

"Hikari…?"

Cutting her out of her thoughts, her cell phone vibrated following a small chime. Pulling her phone out of her pocket, she flipped open the phone. Sighing deeply, she shut her phone and looked up to see the said figure gone. Maname's eyes narrowed and she sighed.

"Better get to work…" She muttered before walking off again.

* * *

><p>Tsuna wandered around the town looking for Maname, but found her nowhere in sight.<p>

"Geez, where could have she gone?!" he yelled leaving the fifth conbini.

"Go look in the woods," Reborn told him.

"Eh? Woods? Why? Didn't she say she was going to a conbini?"

"She lied."

"Eh?!"

"She was pissed and to prevent herself from punching you she left." Reborn explained.

"Eh? Punch me? Why?"

"That's why you're no good Tsuna…" Reborn jumped up on to his shoulder, "Now go to the woods, she should be there."

"O-Okay…"

Listening to the arcobareno, Tsuna heading to the close woods in Nanimori in search of his second cousin.

"Why would she be-" Tsuna was interrupted in thought by a sudden crash in the distance. "What was that?!"

"Go towards it,"

"Eh? But-"

"Just go." Reborn told him. Tsuna sighed and ran towards the sound of the explosion and harsh vibrations of the ground. As he got closer to the source, he saw many rows of trees one the ground as if a strong plow drove through them.

"What happen here?!"

"We're close…" Reborn looked ahead and smirked, "There she is." Tsuna looked ahead and notice a large lump moving in the distance.

"What is that?"

At his question, the unknown body turned towards him and started advancing towards them.

"This is bad," Reborn said in his usual calm tone, "It spotted us."

"Eh! What did?"

Tsuna looked forward and as the creature was coming closer he notice it's strange features. A large bulky body, large horns, running on all four legs, with hoofs on its feet like a cattle and gigantic ragged teeth. Tsuna froze at the inhuman traits, and his legs felt heavy as lead.

"I-I can't move…" He thought, "W-What-"

Just a few meters away, Tsuna shut his eyes in fear. Then, there was a sound of metal clashing and a piece of metal flew back hitting the ground behind Tsuna.

"What are you doing here?!" He heard. Slowly opening his eyes, he caught the sight of long blonde hair and his eyes widened. Maname stood there fending off the beast with a silver broad sword in her hands. He noticed the change in her outfit. Long sleeved dress in blue and white with yellow embroidery, she wore an shining silver armor on that seemed to glow as if it were alive.

"M-Maname-"

She turned to him with a stern look.

"Hurry and run. You'll get killed if you stay there!" she yelled at him.

"B-but…"

"Hurry-" Suddenly, Maname was cut off, when a strong force shot her back in to Tsuna causing the two flew back a few meters. There was a haughty laugh from the creature when the two hit the ground.

"Foolish Human, you believe you can defeat me?!" the creature laughed, "I, Behemoth, demon of the earth, monster of chaos!"

"Shut it, heifer,"

Maname seemed to struggle as she pulled herself up with her sword. Her hair brushed to the side enough to reveal the deep gash on her shoulder. His eyes widened as his eyes caught sight of the metal fragment that was stabbed in the ground.

"Maname-chan!" he exclaimed in shock.

"Hurry up and run." She told him, "You'll just be in the way…" As she stood up straight, her armor just vanished suddenly.

"What-" Maname gripped her blade tightly and charged at the monster. She made quick and strong strikes, but there was no scrape put on Behemoth.

"She took away her armor," Reborn told him.

"Eh?"

"That armor is created to protect its bearer, it takes up a lot of energy from Maname to wear that," Tsuna looked up and saw how ragged and uneven her breathing was. Although she casted an emotionless face, he could tell the amount of pain she was in. Maname

"I-"

"If you want to help her, help her with your dying will."

"Eh-" There was a loud gun shot and Maname turned back to see the Tsuna on the ground with the arcobareno standing in front of him with a freshly fired gun. "Reborn! What are you-"

The dying will flame appeared and Tsuna got up yelling loudly, his clothes ripping in to shreds.

"I'll help Maname with my dying will!" He yelled. Maname stared at him with a sweat drop on the back of her head.

"What the hell did Reborn shoot him with? Why did his clothes rip off…?" she thought.

Tsuna ran past her, charging at Behemoth with his fist up.

"Ah- Idiot! You'll get hurt-"

Tsuna threw his fist landing a solid hit on the front of the creature, creating a slight crack in its compacted shielding. Maname's eyes widened.

"He fractured Behemoth's skull?" She gasped in disbelief, "What is this person exactly?"

There was a loud screech from the creature as it glared at the two, "How dare you, mere human!" charging at full speed, he aimed towards them.

Tsuna stepped in front of Maname and stood firmly in place putting his hands out.

"Ah- Baka-"

Behemoth charged right in to Tsuna, but his movements were stopped as Tsuna gripped his tusks tightly causing Maname to be in shock even deeper.

"Now's your chance, Maname." Reborn told her.

Maname turned to Reborn with narrowed eyes and sighed. "Che," She gripped her blade tightly and took a deep breath. Her sword glowed a vibrant yellow.

"I ask thee," the wind asked, "What art thou?"

"I am thee the light," she responded, "The light that clears the path of darkness," Maname charged at Behemoth, striking right on the fracture of the skull.

The large creature fell to the ground, with a loud thud and the dying will vanished from Tsuna's forehead, returning him to his normal self.

"I-is it dead?" Tsuna stuttered.

"He's back to his normal self?" Maname turned to Behemoth and sighed, "No, it's just knocked out." She told Tsuna as she kneeled in front of the creature, "Demons can't be killed that easily," She put her hand out, resting it on the tusk of it, "Signaculum," She whispered. Then a gust of wind rushed passed her and the demon disintegrated until all was left was a small fragment. Carefully picking up the shard, Maname sighed. "Geez, all this trouble for this little piece…" she turned to Tsuna and Reborn, "Are you all okay?" she asked as her clothes returned to her normal uniform.

"Yeah…" Maname walked over to them and stared at Reborn with a stern look.

"We you planning on killing him, Reborn?" Maname asked. "If there was one slip up, he could have died!"

"Tsuna is my student, he won't die that easily."

"But-"

'Ouch!" Tsuna suddenly yelled. The two turned to the young boy who was holding his fist. His wrist bright red, that had swollen twice its size and his knuckles were bleeding. Maname took his wrist and pulled it forward ignoring the yelling from him.

"You broke your wrist," she told him putting her hand over his hand, "Take a deep breath and calm yourself."

"EH?"

"Shut up and just do it."

"Hai."

Tsuna took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. Gently cupping his hand, she took a breath, letting the same light gather in her hands. After a few seconds, the light died down and she released his hand.

"There, is the pain gone?" She asked.

Tsuna moved his wrist, astonished that all that pain before was gone.

"Yeah," he looked up to her, "Thanks, what about your injuries?"

"Don't worry, they'll heal on their own." She told him brushing her hair to show that the gash was mostly sealed up, "Now…" she stomach growled loudly, "Let's go to the conbini…"

* * *

><p>After getting Tsuna a change of clothes and some food for Maname, the three sat at the park. Tsuna waited till Maname finished eating to ask questions. Finishing her third bento box, she let out a satisfied sigh.<p>

"Gochisou-sama," She said putting her hands together. "Sateto, what did you want to know?"

"Eh- well…" Tsuna tried to clear his thoughts first. There was a bunch of things he wanted to ask her but he didn't know where to start.

"Why not start with your occupation?" Reborn started.

"Okay, sure." Maname cleared her throat, "Maa, to start off, I'm an ARI officer of the Argentum Noctis."


	2. Chapter 2: Scattered Cherry Blossoms

_**Hey People! Long time no see!**_

_**I haven't been active at all due to being busy with school. But Now that I graduated and done with high school I will be updating a lot (hopefully)**_

_**Sorry for the long delay. I will be updating my others stories to be excited for them!**_

_**Also thank you for those who are reading/faving this story! I very much appreciate it!**_

_**-CTS TT-TT**_

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><p><strong>Chapter 2: Scattered Cherry Blossoms<strong>

Everyone started at Maname as she wrote her name on the board and turned to the class with a simple smile.

"Hey! I'm Miyanaga Maname. I came from Tokyo, where I went to Shikifuumon Gakuen. Due to a few reason I'll be going here for a few months. Yoroshiku." She said in an energetic tone. Her attention went to the few students in the class including Tsuna. "Tsuu!" She called waving at him with a smile.

In an instant, all eyes were on to the said boy and Tsuna glanced away avoiding eye contact.

"Eh?! She knows Dame-Tsuna?!"

"No way!"

Tsuna deeply sighed at the unwanted attention. He glanced out the window thinking about the Conversation.

* * *

><p>~*~ Yesterday<p>

* * *

><p>"I'm an AARI officer of the Argentum Noctis." Maname told him, "I'm part of an organization that investigates unexplainable phenomena's and collects artifacts and relics that cause those phenomena. The reason for me coming to Nanimori was to support the other AARI officers for-"<p>

"Wait!" Tsuna cut her off, "I don't understand, Arga-what? Ant? (Ant in Japanese = Ari)"

"No, Argentum Noctis, it means Silver Sacred Night. It's an organization that investigates unexplainable phenomena… well occult, lost legends, and myths are the best way to describe it."

"Okay… and you investigate them?"

"No, I'm part of AARI. Argentum Noctis is mainly like a research facility. When there's something they want to investigate or their experiments go out of control or there's an unexplainable occurrence happening somewhere in the world, AARI officers are in charge to take care of them. Also we keep balance of this world to keep any normal person from finding out about the organization or any slaying or sealing jobs are our jobs."

Tsuna stared at her even more confused.

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><p>Tsuna stared at his hands trying to process what Maname told him yesterday. There were still some other things she needed to explain to him. Like how she and Reborn know each other and what was that weapon she used…? He deeply sighed, not knowing how he could deal with any more trouble. He looked up at Maname contemplating on asking but shook his head.<p>

Maname sat at her desk, sighing mentally.

"Geez, transferring is so tiring…" she thought, "The work books are different and there's a schedule change…"

"Maname-san."

Maname turned to the one who called her. A young girl with platinum blonde hair and blue eyes approached her. Everyone around the girl back away in fear because of the katana around her waist.

"Oh, Mikasa." Maname got up from her seat, "Has everyone else already gathered?"

"Yes."

"Okay, Just wait a bit," Maname walked over to Tsuna's seat and took his hand, "Tsuu, follow me, I need you for a second," Maname told him.

"Eh- now-"

"Hey! Where are you taking the tenth now?!" Gokudera asked.

"We were going to meet a few people. Do you two want to come along?" She asked. Gokudera immediately got up from his seat.

"Of course! Where ever the tenth goes, his right hand man will follow!"

"I guess I'll follow along too," Yamamoto said.

"Then follow us," The group left the room following Mikasa. Yamamoto walked closer to her.

"Are you playing the mafia game too, Amou?" he asked her.

"Eh? Mafia game? No…" She replied with a small blush.

"Then are you playing another game?"

"Eh? Well…"

"Maa, I guess it's around there,"

They went up to roof of the school where five others were waiting. Maname stepped out to the sky open floor and walked over to the others.

"Long time no see, guys." She greeted casually with a smirk.

"Glad to see you're alive." The oldest out of the group greeted. She ruffled the girl's head and grinned, "Chibi."

"Natsume… there's no need for the rough treatment…" Maname muttered

The girl named Natsume laughed out loud, "You're attitude hasn't changed much either."

"Nee-san…" Mikasa spoke in a warning tone.

"You seem to be doing well too, Mikasa." Maname spoke changing the subject, "How's the dojo?"

"It's been fine. Thank you for your concern." Mikasa replied in a formal tone.

Maname smiled and walked over to the girl with long auburn hair and silver eyes. The girl looked back at her with a grin and they high fived each other.

"Long time no see, Asuna." Maname greeted.

"Yeah, Maname. It's been forever." The said girl replied back, "How's things in Tokyo?"

"Normal… I guess."

"U-um…" A small voice spoke. Maname turned to the girl with short white hair and gentle lavender eyes, "I-it's been a while, do you remember me?" she asked.

"Yeah, long time no see, Miyuki," Maname said patting her shoulder, "How have you been?"

"Yes!"

Maname glanced at the boy standing in the corner and just nodded at him. The boy nodded back in response.

"Have you gotten use to things around here?" Asuna asked.

"Aa, somewhat,"

"How long are you stationed here?" Mikasa asked.

"Depends on the situation back at Tokyo; at most it should be about 3-4 months." Maname told her. She glanced back at the three other guys and gestured them to come over, "I have a few people I want to introduce you guys to." She told them.

The group turned to them.

"Oh, Sawada and his friends," Asuna commented.

"I figured you know them, but I wanted you guys to meet." She told them, "Tsuna is my cousin, and he's the Tenth boss of Vongola."

"Geh- I told you I have no intention!"

"And Tsuu, these people here are members of AARI stationed here," She told him ignoring him, "Mikasa, Asuna, Miyuki and Hikaru are in your class so you should know them pretty well. Natsume is a third year."

"Eh?!" This is it? You guys are only in middle school…" Tsuna exclaimed.

"Says the one who's a mafia boss," Maname told him.

"I'm not-" He sighed, "Aren't there any adults who work too?"

"Aa, Mikasa's brother and Miyuki's sister is part of AARI but they're both out of the country at the moment." She explained. She smiled, "Now any questions?" she asked the boys finishing the quick introduction.

Tsuna seemed a lot more clam that before and asked, "Then explain what was going on yesterday? What was creature?"

"Well, as I explained yesterday, one of AARI's jobs is to slay and contain. That creature yesterday was Behemoth, an earth demon."

"Then that-" Before he could finish his question, the bell rang signaling the end of the break. The group started heading back to the door.

"Oh, time to go." Asuna said.

"Eh? I still-" Tsuna tried to talk.

"Let's hurry, I don't want to deal with Natsume-san's boyfriend." Hikaru commented cutting Tsuna off.

"Oi, I told you he's not." Natsume retorted heading back.

"Well, we should head back before he catches us."

"Um…"

Mikasa and Miyuki were left behind. Mikasa turned to the boys and sighed, "I'm sorry, we'll continue this talk another time." She said, then bowed and ran off with Miyuki.

* * *

><p>~*~ Afterschool<p>

* * *

><p>After cleaning up, Tsuna took his bag and went to go home with his friends.<p>

"Good work, Tenth!" Gokudera exclaimed as they finished putting away the cleaning supplies

"Let's go home, Tsuna!" Yamamoto said with his usual smile.

"Yeah- su-"

"Wait up for a sec!" a voice called out. The boys turned to Natsume who stood there with a grin, "Sawada Tsunayoshi-kun, do you have time?" she asked.

"EH- ah- hai… Senpai…" Natsume's grin grew and she put an arm around his shoulder.

"Okay, then come with me."

"EH?!"

"Oi! Wait, Woman! We're heading-" Ignoring Gokudera's words, Natsume took a small marble size ball and threw it to the ground. The hallways immediately filled with smoke and clouded to vision of Gokudera and Yamamoto.

"Sorry, I just need to talk to him!" They heard Natsume yelled.

"Ah-! Tenth!"

The smoke then cleared to show Tsuna and Natsume gone. Gokudera's mouth dropped in shock.

"Dammit! I let Tenth get kidnapped right in front of me!" he yelled.

On the floor near the disciplinary office, Natsume dragged Tsuna to a projection room. After pushing him in, she closed the door and sighed.

"Okay, we should be fine now." She commented to herself.

"Kirigiri-senpai, why did you bring me here?" Tsuna asked.

"You have some questions right? I'm here to answer them in place of Maname." She said taking out a remote, "Normally, Maname would do this part since she has a higher rank than me, but she asked me in her place, so bear with me."

"Eh? Wouldn't we get in trouble with Hibari-san?" he asked.

Natsume laughed at Tsuna's question and shook her head, "Don't worry," She assured, "I have good ties with Kyouya and I'm sure he's fine with this as long as we don't damage anything," she told him.

"K-Kyouya?" he questioned in his mind.

Natsume pressed a button letting a screen come up from the floor.

"Well, I did secretly add a few functions to this school personally for a few reason." She added.

"EHHHHHH?!"

"Finé, system on," She called. The screen turned on and a voice spoke.

"Hello, Natsume-san. What is it do you need?" A female voice spoke.

"Can open some files for me?"

"Roger. Which files do you wish to open?"

"AARI history and Mission and data files of 'The King'." She told her.

"Yes," Immediately, the screen was covered with countless images and files. All containing Maname and some other people. "Mission and Data files of The King, in total, one thousand three hundred and twenty one. AARI history, over 1.2 billion."

"EH?! That much?"

"Calm down, most of them are videos and destroyed property records." She told him. Dragging her finger across the screen, she pulled down a few files to the front. "So what do you want to know first?" She asked.

"Even if you ask me so suddenly… I'm not sure."

"Then let's start from the beginning," She said tapping on the first file. From the file, many images, symbols and written reports appeared. "As Maname told you before, we all work for the Organization AARI, which is a branch of the research facility, Argentum Noctis." She explained, "AARI was created by an researcher, Giosuẻ Callisto, in the late 17th century Italy. Now it has many branches including Japan. We also have a lot alliances from many clans and mafia families."

"Mafia!?"

"Why are you surprised?" She asked as she expanded a map showing all the points where the branches and main base were located. "The Vongola family is one of them."

"Eh? Seriously?"

"Of course, because the first generation Vongola help create AARI." She explained. "Maa, going on," she opened a new file containing statistics and images.

"Um, Senpai." Tsuna called out.

"What is it?" She asked still going through the files.

"Why are you doing this job?" he asked. Natsume glanced back at him saying nothing for a moment, 'Ah- if you don't want to talk about it, it's fine-"

"No, I don't mind," Natsume thought about it, "Well, I guess it was a family thing," She replied, "My parents did this job and after they died I decided to do it to take care of my family," she said.

"Eh-"

"The pay is really good too," She added with a laugh. Tsuna stared at her strangely as she laughed, "What brought up that question?" she asked him.

"Well, it's strange to me. Everyone is still in middle school and they're putting themselves in danger," he explained.

"Oh, well, that's true." She stated thinking, "We all have our reason. Why not ask Maname for her reason?"

"Eh? Would she tell me?"

"Yeah, I'm sure she would." Natsume smiled and turned to the screen, "Okay-" Suddenly the door opened with Hibari glaring at the two.

"What are you two doing here?" he hissed. Natsume grinned at him.

"Ah, Kyouya! You got here faster than planned." She stated. "Oh, you should head home, Tsunayoshi-kun. Kyouya's in a bad mood now," Hibari glared at the girl and raised his tonfas.

"Natsume… ka-"

"Kamikorosu, right?" Natsume finished for him, "Geez, can't you think of a cooler catchphrase-" Natsume ducked in time to dodge his tonfa.

"Hii~!" Tsuna explained as Hibari attacked again. Natsume looked back at the frozen Tsuna and sighed. Grabbing him by the collar and opened the window, "Wait- what are you-?!"

"Sorry!" She yelled as she threw him out the window of the third floor.

"Hiiiiii~!" He yelled, "Someone help-" His cries halted as he fell in to the pool.

* * *

><p>Walking home, soaked to the bone, Tsuna let out a deep sigh.<p>

"Geez, why me…" he muttered on his way home. He looked at his soaked bag and sighed even deeper.

"Stay away,"

Tsuna heard a soft whisper and looked around.

"What was that?"

"Don't come any closer…"

He turned and saw small pink petals gliding through the air. "Sakura? But they're way past their bloom…" His eyes followed the path they came from and landed on a crosswalk where a young girl stood holding a branch with cherry blossoms in full bloom. One by one, she plucked the delicate petal from the thin branch and blew it in to the air giving it a strange glow. Tsuna stared at her in awe, as she brushed some of her hair behind her ear. "Who is she?" he thought.

Noticing the presence of Tsuna, the girl glanced at him with a cold stare. Then turned away leaving the cross bridge, leaving behind a few petals to be blown off the bridge.

"Liar," a voice whispered.

* * *

><p>Tsuna finally got home and was greeted by the usual rowdiness of the kids.<p>

"Okaeri, Tsuna-nii!"

"Tsuna! Play with Lambo-san!"

"Tsuna-san, welcome home," I-pin and Lambo jumped on him.

"Tadaima guys, h-hey, calm down," He said.

"Why are you wet, Tsuna-nii?" Fuuta asked.

"A lot of things happened…" he told him, to change the topic he quickly asked, "Where's Maname-chan?"

"She's in the living room," he told Tsuna.

"Thanks," After getting changed, he walked to the living room where Maname sat on the ground with a laptop open on the low table. Her head supported by her arm as she typed with one arm.

"Okaeri na sai, Tsuu," Maname greeted not looking back at him.

"Tadaima, Maname-chan."

"How was the meeting with Natsume?" she asked.

"We didn't get through a lot because Hibari-san came in suddenly and I got thrown out the window,"

"Heh~" Maname commented in an uninterested tone. After a few seconds, she turned to him in full attention, "You were thrown out the window?"

"Y-yeah… Kirigiri-senpai threw me out and I landed in the pool…"

Maname sighed, "Kyouya came in didn't he?" she questioned face palming.

"I just told you…" he reminded.

"Eh- Really? Sorry…" Maname closed her laptop and turned to him. "Must have been rough," she told him.

"Don't remind me…"

"How much did Natsume manage to tell you?" she asked changing subjects.

"Eh? Well, she talked about the organization… that's it…"

"Sou…" Maname sighed, "She didn't get that far…"

"Why didn't you explain it yourself?" Tsuna asked, "I went through a lot today!"

"Hm… too troublesome." She bluntly stated now reading a magazine.

"HA?!"

"Natsume knows more about the organization that I do and she's older," Maname pointed out.

"But she said you're a higher rank than her."

There was a moment of silence before Maname let out, "Che-"

"Hey!" As Tsuna complained, Maname turned to him and noticed the petal stuck to his hair.

"Hey," she said cutting him off.

"What?"

"You have something on your bangs," she told him. Tsuna reached up taking the small pink petal.

"Oh, the sakura," Tsuna remembered the girl, "There was a girl with a branch full of them, she was spreading them around." He told her.

"Oh, so you saw Hikari."

"Hikari?"

"Yeah, maa, she's 'Hikaru' at school."


End file.
